Belt lacing



F. W. BERNERO.

BELT LACING APPLIER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. B, 1920.

1,378,759. Patented May 17,1921.

Floyd W Bornero j v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

rLoYD w. BERNERO, or MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.

BELT-LAGING APPLIER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FLOYD W. BERNERO, a citizen of the United States, residing at Memphis, in-the county of Shelby and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Belt-Lacing Appliers, of which the following is a specification.

A further object of the invention is to provide an implement which may be made in any and all sizes to meet any and all requirements of use and which may be cheaply and quickly employed for the purposes mentioned.

With these and other objects in view the invention comprises certain novel elements, units and combinations as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a view of the is shown at Fig. 3 in which the belt sections are designated by the reference numerals 10 and 11. The two ends of the belt, laced together,are or may be identical and the lace is identical in every respect except that,

preferably though not necessarily, the number of hooks on one end of the belt is greater by one than on the'opposite belt end. The

V hooks 12 are of a well known commercial type having a U-shaped bend and legs of unequal length terminating in inwardly turned hooks as shown more particularly at 13 in Fig. 2. It is desirable in setting the hooks in the belt to so apply them that the U- Shaped bends of all of the hooks may be in correct alinement to receive the dowel 14 be of any desired or con- The dowel 14 ma but in practice at the presvenient material Specification of Letters Patent. Patented llay 17, 1921, Application filed March 8, 1920. Serial No. 364,095.

ent time it is preferably composed of rawhide. As a cheap and economical as well as a highly eiiicient implement in setting the hooks the present invention comprises a bar 15 having a plurality of slits 16 properly spaced to receive and space bent ends 13 of the hooks 12. The hooks 12 are, as present marketed, mounted upon a card spaced in accordance with the spacing of the slits just above referred to which spacing is dem onstrated as a desirable spacing for the laces. The hooks 12 are inserted into the slits 16 while still retained upon the card and all at the same time. The card is cut as may be required to supply to the bar 15 the requisite number of hooks 12 for the lacing of the belt of the width to which it is to be applied. These hooks having been inserted into the slits 16, the keeper 17 is inserted longitudinally of the bar 15 looking them firmly into position in such slits. The card upon which the hooks have been marketed and handled is now removed from the hooks by being torn off or otherwise displaced.

To the bar 15 braces 18 and 19 are rigidly secured carrying a slide rod 20. The rod 20 is preferably cylindrical and machined to considerable degree of accuracy whereby the hub 21 slides freely thereon. The hub' 21 serves as a fulcrum for the crossed levers 22 and 23 which at their opposite ends are provided with jaws 24: and 25 respectively. The jaws 24 and 25 carry anvils 26 and 27" which, when the levers 22 and 23 are contracted, engage upon the hooks 1.2 and force points 13 into the material of the belt ends 10. The anvils 26 and 27 may be of any width latitudinally found desirable but preferably are of a width to engage upon one, two or three of the hooks at one time. The number of hooks engaged bythe anvils at one time having been forced into the material of the belt the jaws are expanded by the spring 28 and the device moved along the bar 20 to bring it into position to engage and operate upon other of the hooks 12. The spring 28' is preferably wound about the hub 21, as indicated at 29, and is provided with a centering arm 30 inserted and slidablein the groove 31 extend ing longitudinally of the bar 15. This centering device is not necessary to the operation of the implement but adds materially to its convenience in that it holdsthe bar 15 properly centered between the jaws 24 and 25' so that the ends of the belt 10 may beconveniently inserted between the points 13 of the rank of hooks 12.

After all of the hooks 12 have been forced to closed positions with the points 13 entering the material, keeper 17 is withdrawn releasing simultaneously all of the hooks 12 permitting them to be drawn from the slits 16. The completion of adjacent ends of the belt, in such a manner, permits the joining of the belt by inserting the hooks of one end into the spaces between the hooks of the other end and then inserting the dowel 14: into position, as shown at Fig. 3.

I claim- 1. A belt lacing applier comprising means for holding lacing hooks in properly spaced relation, manually operable means for compressing a number of said hooks at an operation, means to slide the compressing mechanism in parallelism with the rank of hooks and means to release all of the hooks simultaneously following the completion. of their application.

2. A belt lacing applier comprising a bar having a plurality of slits properly spaced to receive belt-lace hooks, means to lock the hooks within the slits, a rod in parallelism with the bar and means slidable upon the rod for exerting compression upon some of the hooks.

' 3. A belt lacing applier comprising a bar having a plurality of slits in one face properly spaced to receive belt-lace hooks, means to lock a rank of belt-lace hooks in the slits, a rod adjacent to and in parallelism with the bar upon the side opposite the slits and hook-compressing mechanism slidable longitudinally upon the rod.

4. A belt lacing applier comprising a bar having means for engaging with and retaining uniformly spaced belt lacing hooks, a

rod rigidly secured to and in parallelism with the bar and ho0k-compression mechanism slidable longitudinally upon the rod.

5. A belt lacing applier comprising a bar having slits formed in one face properly spaced to receive the bended ends of a plurality of lacing hooks, means insertible within the bar to engage within the bended ends of the hooks and retain the hooks within the slits, a guide member rigidly positioned relative to the bar and inparallelism therewith, crossed handles slidable upon the guide member and jaws carried by the crossed handles extending over the bar in position to exert compression upon some of the hooks. V

6. A belt lacing applier comprising a bar having slits positioned to receive a plurality of uniformly spaced belt-lacing hooks, a keeper inserted longitudinally of the bar and properly positioned to engage within the bent ends of lacing hooks inserted in the slits, a guide member positioned in parallelism with the bar, crossed handles slidable longitudinally upon the guide member, a spring for holding the handles in extended position said spring having also a sliding engagement with and to center the bar'relative to the handles and jaw members carried by the handlesextended over the bar and in position to exert compression upon some of the lacing hooks.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal at Memphis, Tennessee this 27th day of February, A. I). nineteen hundred and twenty.

JOHN W. FAnLnY, F. M. BAILEY. 

